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Twelfth
Lesson
"Have faith in
God";
Or, The Secret of believing Prayer.
"Jesus, answering, said unto them, Have faith in God. Verily I
say unto you, Whosoever shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe
that what He saith cometh to pass; he shall have it. Therefore I say
unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye
have received them, and ye shall have them."
-Mark
11:22-24
The
power to believe a promise depends entirely, but only, on faith
in the promiser.
The
promise of answer to prayer which formed our yesterday's lesson is one
of the most wonderful in all Scripture.
In how many hearts it has raised the question: How ever can I attain the
faith that knows that it receives all it asks?
It
is this question our Lord would answer today.
Ere He gave that wonderful promise to His disciples, He spoke another
word, in which He points out where the faith in the answer to prayer
takes its rise, and ever finds its strength. Have Faith In God:
this word precedes the other, Have faith in the promise of an answer to
prayer. The power to believe a promise depends entirely,
but only, on faith in the promiser. Trust in the person
begets trust in his word.
This
connection between faith in God and faith in His promise will become
clear to us if we think what faith really is.
It
is only where we live and associate with God in personal, loving
intercourse, where God Himself is all to us,
where our whole being is continually opened up and exposed to the mighty
influences that are at work where His Holy Presence is revealed, that
the capacity will be developed for believing that He gives whatsoever we
ask.
This
connection between faith in God and faith in His promise will become
clear to us if we think what faith really is.
It is often compared to the hand or the mouth, by which we take and
appropriate what is offered to us. But it is of importance that we
should understand that faith is also the ear by which I hear what is
promised, the eye by which I see what is offered me. On this the
power to take depends.
The value of the promise depends
on the promiser...
I
must hear the person who gives me the promise: the very tone of
his voice gives me courage to believe. I
must see him: in the light of his eye and countenance all fear as
to my right to take passes away. The value of the promise depends
on the promiser: it is on my knowledge of what the promiser is that
faith in the promise depends.
It is for this reason that Jesus, ere He gives that wonderful
prayer-promise, first says, Have Faith In God. That
is, let thine eye be open to the Living God, and gaze on Him, seeing Him
who is Invisible.
So
believing God is just looking to God and what He is, allowing Him to
reveal His presence, giving Him time and yielding the whole being to
take in the full impression of what He is as God...
It is through the eye that I yield myself to the influence of what is
before me; I just allow it to enter, to exert its influence, to leave
its impression upon my mind. So
believing God is just looking to God and what He is, allowing Him to
reveal His presence, giving Him time and yielding the whole being to
take in the full impression of what He is as God, the soul opened up to
receive and rejoice in the overshadowing of His love.
Yes,
faith is the eye to which God shows what He is and does:
through faith the light of His presence and the workings of His mighty
power stream into the soul. As that which I see lives in me, so by
faith God lives in me too.
As the words I
hear enter the mind and dwell and work there, so through faith God
enters the heart, and dwells and works there.
And even so faith is also the ear through which the voice of God is
always heard and intercourse with Him kept up. It
is through the Holy Spirit the Father speaks to us; the Son is the Word,
the substance of what God says; the Spirit is the living voice.
This the child of God needs to lead and guide him; the secret voice from
heaven must teach him, as it taught Jesus, what to say and what to
do. An ear opened towards God, that is, a believing heart waiting
on Him, to hear what He says, will hear Him speak.
The
words of God will not only be the words of a Book, but, proceeding from
the mouth of God, they will be spirit and truth, life and power. They
will bring in deed and living experience what are otherwise only
thoughts. Through this opened ear the soul tarries under the
influence of the life and power of God Himself. As the words I
hear enter the mind and dwell and work there, so through faith God
enters the heart, and dwells and works there.
For this reason Jesus said, ere He gave the promise
that God would answer believing prayer: Have Faith In God.
When
faith now is in full exercise as eye and ear, as the faculty of the soul
by which we see and hear God, then it will be able to exercise its full
power as hand and mouth, by which we appropriate God and His blessing.
The power of reception will depend entirely on the power of spiritual
perception. For this reason Jesus said, ere He gave the promise
that God would answer believing prayer: Have Faith In God.
Faith
is simply surrender: I yield myself to the impression the tidings I hear
make on me. By faith I yield
myself to the living God. His glory and love fill my heart,
and have the mastery over my life. Faith is fellowship; I give
myself up to the influence of the friend who makes me a promise, and
become linked to him by it. And it is when we enter into this
living fellowship with God Himself, in a faith that always sees
and hears Him, that it becomes easy and natural to believe His promise
as to prayer.
It
is because very many of God's children do not understand this connection
between the life of faith and the prayer of faith that their experience
of the power of prayer is so limited.
Faith
in the promise is the fruit of faith in the promiser: the prayer of
faith is rooted in the life of faith.
And in this way the faith that prays effectually is indeed a gift of
God. Not as something that He bestows or infuses at once, but in a
far deeper and truer sense, as the blessed disposition or habit of soul
which is wrought and grows up in us in a life of intercourse with
Him. Surely for one who knows his Father well, and lives in
constant close intercourse with Him, it is a simple thing to believe the
promise that He will do the will of His child who lives in union with
Himself.
It
is because very many of God's children do not understand this connection
between the life of faith and the prayer of faith that their experience
of the power of prayer is so limited.
When they desire earnestly to obtain an answer from God, they fix their
whole heart upon the promise, and try their utmost to grasp that promise
in faith.
So the
cure of a feeble faith is alone to be found in the invigoration of our
whole spiritual life...
When
they do not succeed, they are ready to give up hope; the promise is
true, but it is beyond their power to take hold of it in faith.
Listen to the lesson Jesus teaches us this day: Have Faith In God,
the Living God: let faith look to God more than the thing promised: it
is His love, His power, His living presence will waken and work the
faith.
A
physician would say to one asking for some means to get more strength in
his arms and hands to seize and hold, that his whole constitution must
be built up and strengthened. So the
cure of a feeble faith is alone to be found in the invigoration of our
whole spiritual life by intercourse with God. Learn to believe in
God, to take hold of God, to let God take possession of thy life, and it
will be easy to take hold of the promise. He that knows and trusts
God finds it easy to trust the promise too.
It is the man who walks before the Lord, and falls upon his
face to listen while the living God speaks to him, who will really
receive the promise.
Just
note how distinctly this comes out in the saints of old.
Every special exhibition of the power of faith was the fruit of a
special revelation of God. See it in Abraham: And the word of
the Lord came unto Abram, saying, Fear not, Abram; I am thy
shield. And He brought him forth abroad, and said
. . . And He Believed The Lord. And later again: The Lord appeared
unto him, and said unto him, I am God Almighty. And Abram fell
on his face, and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold
my covenant is with thee.
It
was the revelation of God Himself that gave the promise its living power
to enter the heart and work the faith.
Because they knew God, these men of faith could not do anything but
trust His promise. God's promise will be to us what God Himself
is. It is the man who walks before the Lord, and falls upon his
face to listen while the living God speaks to him, who will really
receive the promise.
Though we have God's promises in the Bible, with full liberty to take
them, the spiritual power is wanting, except as God
Himself speaks them to us. And He
speaks to those who walk and live with Him.
Though we have God's promises in the Bible, with full liberty to take
them, the spiritual power is wanting, except as God
Himself speaks them to us. And He
speaks to those who walk and live with Him.
Therefore, Have Faith In God: let faith be all eye and ear, the
surrender to let God make His full impression, and reveal Himself fully
in the soul.
Count
it one of the chief blessings of prayer to exercise faith in God, as the
Living Mighty God who waits to fulfill in us all the good pleasure of
His will, and the work of faith with power.
See in Him the God of Love, whose delight it is to bless and impart
Himself. In such worship of faith in God the power will speedily
come to believe the promise too: All Things Whatsoever Ye Ask,
Believe That Ye Receive. Yes, see that thou dost in faith make
God thine own; the promise will be thine too.
God wants to give us Himself first.
Precious
lessons that Jesus has to teach us this day. We
seek God's gifts: God wants to give us Himself first. We
think of prayer as the power to draw down good gifts from heaven; Jesus
as the means to draw ourselves up to God. We want to stand at the
door and cry; Jesus would have us first enter in and realize that we are
friends and children.
Let
us accept the teaching. Let every
experience of the littleness of our faith in prayer urge us first to
have and exercise more faith in the living God, and in such faith to
yield ourselves to Him. A heart full of God has power for the
prayer of faith. Faith in God begets faith in the promise, in the
promise too of an answer to prayer.
Therefore, child of God, take time, take
time, to bow before Him, to wait on Him to reveal Himself.
Take time, and let thy soul in holy awe
and worship exercise and express its faith in the Infinite One, and as
He imparts Himself and takes possession of thee, the prayer of faith
will crown thy faith in God.
____________________________________
LORD, TEACH
US TO PRAY.
Three-One
God, I have faith in Thee.
O
my God! I do believe in Thee. I
believe in Thee as the Father, Infinite in Thy Love and Power. And
as the Son, my Redeemer and my Life. And as the Holy Spirit,
Comforter and Guide and Strength. Three-One God, I have faith in
Thee. I know and am sure that all that Thou art Thou art to me,
that all Thou hast promised Thou wilt perform.
Lord
Jesus! increase this faith. Teach me
to take time, and wait and worship in the Holy Presence until my faith
takes in all there is in my God for me. Let it see Him as the
Fountain of all Life, working with Almighty Strength to accomplish His
will on the world and in me.
Let
faith in God each moment fill me.
Let
it see Him in His love longing to meet and fulfill my desires.
Let it so take possession of my heart and life that through faith God
alone may dwell there. Lord Jesus, help me! with my whole heart
would I believe in God. Let faith in God each moment fill me.
O my Blessed Saviour! how can Thy Church glorify Thee,
how can it fulfill that work of intercession through which Thy kingdom
must come, unless our whole life be Faith In God. Blessed
Lord! speak Thy Word, Have Faith In God, unto the depths of our
souls.
________________________________
Text
is in the Public Domain.
Candle Photo, Logo, & Layout: Copyright © 2002 S.G.P. All rights reserved.
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